Lake County Health District Wins Model Practice Award

Lake County Health District Wins Model Practice Award

The award is evidence of our commitment to developing responsive and innovative public health programs that improve the health of local residents.

The Model Practice Award has been awarded to the Lake County General Health District during the 2017 Annual Conference of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

The Model Practice Award has been awarded to the Lake County General Health District during the 2017 Annual Conference of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

The health district-initiated program is one of the 41 programs to be awarded the prestigious title nationwide this year. The project entitled “Tobacco Free Living: Operationalizing Evidence-Based Interventions through Expanded use of Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) Volunteers and Local Health Resources” was started to educate and help the public beat their tobacco addiction.

The Medical Reserve Corps conducted a survey and at the same time helped educate the citizens of the Lake County Community about the dangers of tobacco. With the help of the MRC and other local health resources, the department believes that the Lake County can adopt a 100% tobacco free policy so as to help both the youth and adults kick tobacco out of their lives permanently.

“We are proud to receive NACCHO’s Model Practice Award,” Ron Graham said in a statement. “The award is evidence of our commitment to developing responsive and innovative public health programs that improve the health of local residents,” he added. Ron Graham is currently the Lake County General Health District Health Commissioner

The giving of the Model Practice Award has been an annual tradition since 2003. According to its founders, The Model Practice Award “celebrates local health departments for developing programs that demonstrate exemplary and replicable best practices in response to a critical local public health need.”

According to The News Herald, the process of choosing the winners goes through a very carefully scrutinized process. Each application is meticulously peer-reviewed among more than a hundred hopefuls.

“This award puts Lake County General Health District in special company with a select group of health departments that exemplify a forward-thinking, proactive approach toward protecting and promoting the health of communities nationwide,” said Laura Hanen, the NACCHO Interim Executive Director and Chief of Government Affairs.

According to her, “Tobacco Free Living is now part of an online, searchable database of successful public health practices in areas that range from immunization and maternal and child health, to infectious diseases and emergency preparedness. The NACCHO Model Practice database allows local health departments, public health partners, and other important stakeholders to learn about the good work being done by local health departments across the country. “

According to US’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, with more than 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke.” This data makes it more and more important for government bodies to tackle the tobacco problem in the local level.